SNAFU5
by Hatchepsut
Summary: The fate of the World rests in their hands . . . again.


Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are the property of Showtime/Viacom, MGM/UA, Double Secret Productions, and Gekko Productions. This story was created for entertainment purposes only. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author(s).

The weeks dragged on. SG1 minus the General made a whole lot of trips through the Gate and brought back a whole lot of nothing. Not "nothing" exactly, Merlin had left a variety of sage wisdom throughout the Galaxy.

Jack had been back and forth to Colorado Springs more often in the last two months than he had since he left. He was currently in his office at the Pentagon trying to figure out how a quick call to see how Sam was feeling had turned into an argument about over bearing men and her lack of privacy.

They had told SG1 about the baby the last time he was home. Sam had decided that since she needed to get new, bigger, pants, keeping their little secret much longer wasn't going to be easy. They had gathered one evening at her house for a bar-b-que. All of SG1, Caroline Lam and General Landry were there. Sam had met with Hank Landry earlier that day, to inform him of her pregnancy. He was concerned about her traveling through the Gate, but when she told him about the conversation that she and Caroline had had with Hermiod, he relaxed a little.

"How's Jack dealing with this?" He asked.

"He seems to be happy."

"I wasn't around when his son…but we just about lost him. Never thought he'd have another chance, did he? I'll tell you Colonel, that man is a born father, if I could have only been half as good as him…well things might have been different."

"We are going day by day, sir. He's very, cautious, but I know he's pretty happy about this."

"Well, congratulations to both of you. You'll be great parents…just keep me informed if your status changes…there is plenty of work around here that you can do if you can't go through the Gate any longer."

Sam smiled; he was taking this better than she'd hoped. "Thank you sir. Oh by the way, Jack is in town and we're inviting the team over for dinner tonight. We'd both like you to join us."

"Jack scorching meat again?"

"Yes sir."

"I'll be there. Can I bring anything?"

"Just yourself, sir."

That night they stunned their friends with their announcement. Teal'C and Daniel sat in silence. Cam, Landry and Caroline congratulated them loudly.

Vala sighed, "Finally, keeping this to myself was killing me."

"She knew?" Jack asked surprised. He hadn't thought Sam and Vala were that close.

"She figured it out when we met Nimue and her people. I guess the puking at the Gate was enough of a clue." Sam replied.

Daniel had gotten up and wandered over to where the grill sat. He was unusually quiet. Jack's eyes followed his friend and he gave Sam the signal that he was going to follow.

"Danny-boy? Everything okay?"

Daniel turned towards his friend. His eyes were suspiciously shiny.  
"Are you happy Jack"  
"Never thought I'd be this happy again Daniel. Never thought I'd be looking father-hood in the eye again either"  
"You are a lucky man Jack"  
"You don't have to tell me that. I sometimes wake up in DC and think that it's a dream"  
"You two deserve this Jack, nobody more."

Jack did something hadn't done in years. He ruffled Daniel's hair. They'd long ago out grown the relationship they'd had in the early years. Daniel had become less the little brother and more the equal over the years.

"O'Neill, Colonel-Carter, I am volunteering my time to teach your son the ways of the Jaffa."

"Thank T; I knew we could count on you." Jack laughed.

Jack decided to call Daniel and see if he knew why Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter had just blown a gasket. He'd been in meetings all morning and had just enough time to call before his next one.

"Daniel Jackson!" The archaeologist answered the phone.

"Daniel."

"Jack? Hey, what's going on?"

"That's what I was calling to find out. I talked to Carter earlier and she ripped me a new one. What's going on?"

Daniel laughed. "Oh that. Yeah she mentioned it. We had an issue with the air conditioning this morning and she was feeling hot and grumpy. Not to mention that she had to go to the PX and bigger pants again. It there Jack!"

"What's there?" Jack was perplexed.

Sam's temper was exceptionally level and he'd never seen her get angry over what he considered nothing before.

"The 'Bump'!"

"What bump, Carter has a bump? Did she hit her head?"

"The 'Baby Bump' Jack." Daniel laughed again. "She's showing now. It's really great. She was sitting in her lab in her new pants and her tank top today and when she stood up, it was there. I have to tell you, not that I spend a lot of time looking at them, but her…breasts are getting…uh big. She's even complaining that her off duty clothes are all too small. We're going shopping tomorrow."

"You and Carter are going shopping tomorrow? For maternity clothes?"

"Yeah, we've been window shopping once or twice. We think that we found the baby's crib and Teal'C found a stroller on line that he thinks is suitably safe. This is fun Jack."

Jack asked a few questions about how the search was going. He knew, he'd get the reports daily, but he thought he should ask Daniel how his work was going. He said goodbye and sat back.

'This is fun, Jack…'

That phrase haunted him throughout his meeting. He was missing out on Sam's pregnancy, on the changes in her body, on the development of his child. He hadn't been with Sarah much during her pregnancy and it looked like he was following suit with Sam.

'Damn it.' He wasn't going to be an absentee father again. He needed to be there to pick out cribs and strollers and to tell Sam that she looked beautiful. He needed to be painting the baby's room and putting together the furniture that they bought together.

He stood up at the end of the meeting and hauled ass back to his office. He needed to make some changes here and now.

"Major!" He yelled to his assistant.

At first the young man had tried to get Jack to use the intercom, but after having Walter hanging around like Radar O'Reilly, Jack had gotten used to just yelling out his demands. Major Michael Torrington came running.

"I need to talk to the President. Can you get me in to see him first thing in the morning?" It wasn't really a request.

"Sir, its Friday night. I may not be able to get you in until Monday."

"Damn, okay, Monday, but I need to see him. How do you feel about Colorado?"

"Love the mountains, hate the cold." Torrington replied.

"Yeah, okay."

Jack spent the weekend stewing. He needed to talk to the President to get his plan started. He'd talked to Sam every night that weekend. She'd filled him in on the shopping trip and apologized for going off on him. They'd discussed the colours that she was thinking about for the baby's room and she laughed at Teal'C's search for the perfect stroller. It nearly killed Jack.

Between talking for Sam and feeling sorry for himself Jack sat at his laptop and worked on a proposal for the President. This was going to be one of the most important pitches of his life and Jack wanted it 100 ready for Monday morning. By midnight Saturday, he'd spent eight hours in his office at the Pentagon and nearly that many on the computer at home. He realized that he was getting a little punchy when he added a picture of an alien to page 45 of the proposal. He needed to push away from the laptop, grab a couple of hours of shut eye, and get down to refining the proposal. He really could have used Sam or Daniel on this one, but he didn't want anyone to see what he had planned. Not yet.

By Monday morning the proposal was as good as it was going to get. His staff car was waiting outside and Jack was loading up his briefcase. He had never seen himself as a briefcase kind of guy. Vests with dozens of pockets filled with everything from chewing gum to plastic explosives, and don't get those two mixed up, sure, but a leather briefcase? Even a designer piece that Sam had given him for a promotion gift was a different piece of a different uniform. One of the many changes he'd had to go through.

Jack knew he'd be stepping on a few toes over at the Pentagon by taking this to Hayes first, but the Joint Chiefs knew he was a maverick when they'd given him this gig. He waited for the President in the outer office near the big room. He was playing the Oval Office and he was anxious. Finally the intern that was floating around trying to look extremely busy gestured for Jack to follow him.

"General O'Neill…Jack. To what do I owe this pleasure?" Hayes asked as Jack came in.

"I wanted to update you, in person sir."

Henry Hayes gestured for Jack to sit in one of the chairs near the fireplace. Jack sat, set his case on the coffee table and opened it up. He pulled out a copy of the proposal that he'd worked so hard on for the last 72 hours.

"You felt it necessary to come over here yourself? What do the Joint Chiefs have today?"

"I haven't brought this to their attention, yet."

Hayes lifted an eyebrow in a way that would have made Teal'C proud.

"Well, go for it Jack. What's this important update?"

Jack sat straighter, adjusted his jacket and forged on ahead. "We need to move Homeworld Security, sir."

Hayes was startled. "Move it?"

"Yes sir."

Jack pulled out a report with the SGC stamp on the front. He'd received this one late last week.

"SG's 7 and 14 were on a couple of planets last week that had recent Prior activity. We're getting intel from a variety of sources, Asgaard, Tok'ra, that the Priors are making moves into areas that they'd never seemed interested in before. They are taking the long way, but they are coming, sir."

"We know this….this isn't news Jack."

"Yes and no sir. The movement into these uninteresting areas is intensifying. So far the lock SG1 applied to the Super Gate is holding, but we can't be sure for how long."

"Where would you like to move Homeworld?"

"The SGC, preferably, Peterson if need be. You know as well as I do that when involved in an offensive, we make a lot of decisions on the fly. Being there, we would have up to the second intel, and it could be the deciding factor. Currently we rely on faxes, email and servers… when every second counts we're already down a few…sir."

The President looked at O'Neill, and then began flipping through the document Jack had handed him. The man had a point. Having Homeworld Security located in the Pentagon was really a convenience for the Joint Chiefs. It saved them travel time. Most of the time their assistance could be obtained over the phone, fax or email. They were consultants more so than combatants, Jack and his team really ran the show.

Ambassadors for the various countries involved in the Star Gate Programme didn't necessarily need to be in Washington, they could just as easily "visit" Colorado Springs. They didn't have offices and with the nature of the secrecy surrounding their posts, having them travel wouldn't cause a logistical problem. They reported to their government via electronics from where they were now, and most of them would be thrilled to actually see the real Gate.

In the last few months O'Neill and the others at the top of the food chain hadn't really had time for the Ambassadors anyway. For the most part they'd been up to their epilates in Ori issues but Hayes was curious to know why O'Neill had chosen now to approach him.

"I'll read over your proposal Jack, but I need to ask... how much does this have to do with Colonel Carter's pregnancy?"

If O'Neill was surprised that the President knew about Sam he didn't show it. The man was the President of the United States; he had a pretty good grape vine.

"I won't lie; it had a lot to do with it, sir. You've read my file; you know my family history…"

"You want to be there, I understand. Why not have Colonel Carter put in to be reassigned to the Pentagon? She's worked here before."

"She's too valuable to the SGC to move her sir… even Area 51 was too far. She needs to be there, and pregnancy aside, I need to be there too. The Ori are coming and stopping them isn't going to be easy. Being on the ground, so to speak, at the SGC is where I need to be. Hank Landry is a good man, but he isn't the head of Homeworld. I am. We have a hard battle ahead."

"Harder than stopping the Goa'uld?"

"I was at the SGC for that, sir."

"True. Okay…I doubt that the reasons for moving at least some of the team to Colorado Springs can be made anymore apparent in the proposal than what was stated here, so I'm going to be recommending the move to the Joint Chiefs. They won't like it, but I think that we can make them see it our way."

O'Neill stood and turned to leave. Hayes had gotten up to return to his desk but stopped and called out.

"Jack? You were ready to leave here unemployed, weren't you?"

"I didn't want to, but yeah, I was."

"Good to know."


End file.
